Beckendorff, Florian Surge to Lead in Mount Gay Rum Sise Cup

While thousands of people convened in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, to watch the live-breaking news of a rodent emerging from a hole, the New England Masters prepared for the Mt. Sunapee/Pat's Peak combined. As if it weren't terrifying enough to see one's shadow, the crowd jeered poor Phil's retreat with boos and cat-calls. Strange people. Six more weeks of winter was great news to us. Blessed with an unusual abundance of snow and the benefit of blue skies, absent mind-numbing cold, this ski season is summing up to a perfect 10, and none wants it to end soon.

At Sunapee, the recently refurbished area provided a long and technically challenging course that left the less fit panting, and with a race support crew so congenial and concerned about the state of our day, everyone felt they'd stepped into Club Med instead of onto a ski slope. And Pats Peak, with its unassailable surface and perilous pitch, retains its indisputable title as the toughest slalom. Neither course was able to stop the charging Carolyn Beckerdorff and Sean Florian.  Each won the Combined by winning at Sunapee and finishing second at Pat's, and each surged into the overall Mount Gay Rum Sise Cup lead.

The top podium finishers at Pat's Peak were Stephen Willey and Susanna Giombetti. The Combined results revealed some new faces on the class podiums including; Chuck Phillips, Bob Wilson, Greg Gill, Russell Probert, Jim Doig, Tom Maynes and John and Dan Kielty. Derek Griggs, class four stalwart, picked up his first 2001 overall points with two fifteenth places in the Slalom and the Combined.  The Mount Gay Rum Sise Cup resumes with a three event weekend at Sunday River, Maine.